Pictured: Indiana State Schools Superintendent Dr. Jennifer McCormick
This could be the end of I-STEP-Plus–the annual test of basic skills that nobody likes, not students, teachers, administrators, parents or legislators. Indiana’s new Superintendent of Public Instruction is proposing the use of something called “computer adaptive” testing for the third through eighth grades. That means different test questions adapted to individual students based on their responses and skill levels. I-STEP uses a “fixed form model” asking every test-taker the same questions. Superintendent Jennifer McCormick says that’s not the best way to determine students’ needs. She also wants the SAT and PSAT tests in the high schools. And she told a State Senate Committee she wants to roll out the new testing model in 2019. That would mean another year of ISTEP-Plus but it would provide time, she says, “to ensure we get this right.”